Capable of Murder
by Kem'Ajiana
Summary: One-Shot. There's a murderer in Shadowclan. No one knows who it is, only that it is only striking out against the toms. Emberpaw, however, does know who it is...because it's her. One-shot. Horror / Angst. Rated T for blood and gore. Not a happy-ending, and a bit confusing.


_Capable of Murder_

By: Kem'Ajiana

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Summary: There's a murderer in Shadowclan. No one knows who it is, only that it is only striking out against the toms. Emberpaw, however, does know who it is...because it's her. One-shot. Murder / Angst. Rated T for blood and gore.

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Author's Note: Before you read this, understand: this is a raw-fic. There was no real reason to write this, expect pure boredom and sudden inspiration, so flames aren't welcome and concrit, while usually looked in to, will be ignored. This is pure, unadulterated fun.

It's gory, about a murderous she-cat bent on revenge. A little confusing, but still somewhat plausible-what woman hasn't wanted to murder her ex at some point? We've heard stories in the news about horrific murders committed by twisted people. This takes 'twisted' to a whole new level.

Please note-this fic shouldn't be read by anyone under the age of, oh, say, fifteen? Lots of blood, gore, and one very, very violent she-cat. Enjoy!

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One-Shot

Characters : (in order of importance)

_Emberpaw: dark ginger tabby she-cat with bright amber eyes_

_Darkstone: black tom with blue eyes_

_Softcloud: black-and-white she-cat_

_Kindleflame: lighter ginger tabby she-cat with green eyes_

_Yellowclaw: dark gray tabby tom with amber eyes_

_Treestar: dark brown tabby tom_

_Whiteflower: white she-cat with blue eyes_

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One-Shot

_Emberpaw stood over the blood-soaked, _mutilated body of the dark gray tabby tom, amber eyes shining with malice. That's what happened when a cat crossed her. They died.

The scene hadn't been pleasant.

With a maniacal chuckle, the little she-cat dragged her tongue over her blood-reddened paw, washing away the evidence of her crime. Yellowclaw stared blankly into the forest, wide-eyed, tongue lolling from his mouth and back arched backwards at an awkward angle. Blood trickled from his open mouth and from the long slice down his belly, where Emberpaw could faintly see his insides. She grinned at a job well-done.

Really, the only crime that Yellowclaw had committed was trying to leave Emberpaw. They'd carried on their forbidden relationship for too long, with no cat the wiser. He'd payed the ultimate price after having fallen in love with another she-cat, Softcloud.

Rising to her paws, she padded away from the grisly scene, back towards Shadowclan's camp.

Some other cat would find him. Eventually.

* * *

"Let all cat's gather here beneath the High-limb for a clan meeting!" Treestar's voice echoed through the camp, jolting a pawful of warriors and apprentice's from their afternoon naps.

Emberpaw slid from her nest, padding into the filtered sunlight, yawning.

From where the dark-furred ginger she-cat sat, she could see Softcloud with her back hunched and three or four warriors clinging to her sides, whispering sweet words into her ears. The apprentice grinned. So. They'd found Yellowclaw.

Treestar lashed his tail angrily. "We have found the body of Yellowclaw, near the northernmost border of our territory. We have no way to know who did it, only that it was one of our own warriors."

Cat's shot nervous glances at one another, as if trying to decide who'd done the horrible deed. Which cat was the murderer? The four apprentices—Emberpaw, Shallowpaw, Dewpaw, and Mallowpaw—sat together. The three latter pressed together, as if they could fend off the horrible cat-killer.

There was a snarl, and Softcloud swiped her claws as a dark-furred tabby tom. "You!" she hissed. "It has to have been _you_!"

Darkstone didn't even try to defend himself, simply darting away from the black-and-white queen's claws. Treestar leaped between them, facing the she-cat.

"You have no evidence to justify that claim, Softcloud!" he snapped.

Darkstone shook his head, going to sit away from his clanmates. The half-clan tom had never been accepted into Shadowclan, and Emberpaw felt a trill of sadistic pleasure race through her bloodstream.

No cat would ever expect an apprentice to have killed a fully-grown, well-known warrior.

* * *

Emberblaze padded alongside Darkstone as they patrolled the Riverclan border. Just the two of them. She was happy, peaceful.

It had been five moons since Yellowclaw's so-called 'mysterious' death, and Emberblaze had received her warrior name three moons prior.

Treestar and the Medicine Cat had tried to get answers out of Starclan as to the death of Yellowclaw, but Starclan had been unable to answer them, stating that the cat responsible had a 'shadow clinging to them.'

Softcloud had given birth to three healthy kits, each a mini-copy of Yellowclaw, two moons after his death, and Emberblaze hoped to receive one as an apprentice...just so she could kill it. Especially little Dawnkit, who looked just like her father.

In the back of her mind, Emberblaze swore to finish what she'd started.

Starting with sweet little Dawnkit.

* * *

It was easy.

Featherpaw, Dawnpaw's sister, wasn't as experienced as a fully-grown warrior, and her flesh was so easy to slice into. It was almost as easy as squashing a bug.

The light gray tabby she-cat was struggling in a pool of her own blood, coughing and gagging as her paws flailed, unable to function. She hadn't seen Emberblaze coming, only felt the slash of claws across her belly and the sickening fall as she plummeted from the edge of the slippery cliff.

She'd die without knowing who had killed her.

As her flailing ceased, her ragged breathing faltering before it ceased forever.

Emberblaze laughed.

* * *

Darkstone and Softcloud were beside themselves. Featherpaw had been the dark tom's apprentice, and he felt responsible for not having been there to save her.

Shallowpool and Mallownose had retrieved her body after they'd happened to stumble upon it, carrying it back to camp for the clan to see. Treestar had demanded that they bury her immediately; there'd been nearly nothing left of her, anyways. She'd been nearly picked clean by crows.

Emberblaze stood at Darkstone's side that night, pressing her fur into his, and grieved with him.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Emberblaze," the dark-furred tom meowed, staring sadly at her. "I just...don't love you."

Fury bubbled up in the dark ginger she-cat belly, and her claws slid from their sheaths. Her teeth bared. "What do you mean 'you don't love me,' Darkstone?" she hissed.

Kindleflame, Emberblaze's sister, padded up to his side, pressing into him. "I'm expecting his kits, Emberblaze. I'm so sorry."

With a hiss of fury, the she-cat lashed out at her sister, catching her by the neck. The lighter ginger she-cat collapsed to the ground, thrashing about in her death throes. Darkstone stared in horror as blood arched, splattering his face and the dark ginger she-cat's claws. He screeched in distress as she, without hesitation, slipped under his belly, utilizing her small size and speed, to slice open his belly.

His scream of pain was lost in a gurgle of pain. He collapsed on top of his mate, whose belly was slightly swelled with unborn kits.

Amber eyes wide with twisted delight, Emberblaze laughed hysterically.

* * *

It wasn't long until her clan came to discover the next two—and final—victims of the mysterious cat-killer; Emberblaze had fetched the closest warriors to show them the grisly sight.

When questioned, the she-cat told a gruesome love-story of murder and betrayal.

"Yellowclaw and I...we were secretly meeting one another," she'd confessed with a lowered voice. The senior-most warriors had gathered in the leader's den. "The night he was...killed...he'd sent me back to camp on my own. It rouse suspicion if we returned together, and he did not want that; he loved me." The warriors had seen sense in that and urged the distraught she-cat to continue. "Featherpaw had been so much like him, even more-so than Dawncloud, if you think about it...she's got his eyes and his personality, that I kept a close eye on her. It wasn't until she was murdered that I started to put two-and-two together.

"Softcloud has always been jealous of her kit; she'd been pretty, smart, and a wonderful friend. The tom's loved her! At first, I didn't dare think that she'd killed her kit...I didn't have the proof! But, then...Darkstone, Kindleflame, and I went out hunting. When they told me...the news that she was expecting kits," she'd choked up here for effect. "I was thrilled. Darkstone deserved happiness; he'd lost his apprentice and his closest family and friend. When Softcloud came barging into the clearing, aiming for me...my sister leaped in front. She took the blow that would have killed me. The blood...it washed over my paws...and sprayed Darkstone's face. Neither of us could move. We were terrified! She killed Darkstone where he stood, and I ran. I ran as fast as I could. Right into a patrol.

"When we arrived back at the...sight, Softcloud was gone; she left no trace! I'm just," she ducked her head humbly, "sorry I didn't say anything sooner. I could have saved so many lives!"

Whiteflower touched the dark ginger she-cat's shoulder with her tail, turning to face her leader. "It makes sense, Treestar. Softcloud has always been volatile...and she'd cut herself off from the other warriors."

Softcloud was exiled, without hearing her side of the story, and Emberblaze had watched in delight.

Long live Emberblaze...the victorious, murdering she-cat.

Every she-cat is capable of murder, if you hurt her.

And Yellowclaw had most definitely hurt her.


End file.
